Mother with cystic fibrosis hopes son doesn't miss out

Mike Nikitas from NECN, Karen Blake from Oldies 103.3, (on left), and Karen Swensen and Scott Montminy from NECN help Globe Santa collect donations Wednesday at Faneuil Hall. (Taslim Sidi for The Boston Globe)

It can be tough for parents to meet their monthly commitments and save enough money for special occasions like Christmas and birthday celebrations.

But when you add a debilitating chronic illness to the mix, it often becomes an impossible task.

Compounding the physical and emotional strain of constant medical care is the burden of wondering how to explain to a child that Christmas morning will not come with gifts. This, however, is where Globe Santa can step in to help a parent's worries.

Describing emotions and circumstances like those in many of the letters written to Globe Santa, a single mother from the South Shore wrote on behalf of her 8-year-old son.

She has cystic fibrosis and said she is hospitalized for at least two weeks every three months or so. "The fact is, my health is getting worse every day," she wrote.

Despite her deteriorating condition, she makes sure supper is planned when her son comes home from school, and they eat together after he spends some time on his homework.

"We eat every night at 5 o'clock, because that seems to be the time that I have the most energy," she wrote. "Usually by seven I have to lie down, sometimes for the night."

Her son has become quite the caretaker and is "incredibly responsible and loving" but she doesn't want him to have to forsake all the joys of childhood because of her illness.

"I have nothing for Christmas, and I want him to keep believing in Santa while he still can," she wrote. "My son is everything to me, and I cherish his smiles. Please help me put that smile on my son's face this year."

This young woman's son will be among some 60,000 children who will find presents from Globe Santa under their tree this Christmas morning.

Because she cared enough to ask for Globe Santa's assistance, and thanks to the thousands of generous Globe Santa Friends, her little boy will know that Santa Claus remembered him.

After what has been a trying and tiresome year for them, they will be able to enjoy opening gifts together, rather than wishing the holiday would hurry by.

For more than half a century, Globe Santa has been helping families who celebrate Christmas in the Santa Claus tradition but cannot afford gifts.

At least $1 million has been raised annually for the last several years, and in 2007 the fund drive tallied about $1.1 million and delivered toys to 57,079 children in 29,379 households.

This season, Globe Santa has received some 30,000 letters asking for assistance. Once a request is certified, the gifts are packaged at the Boston Globe facility in Millbury and then distributed by United Parcel Service.